Officials are probing how a 51-year-old highway bridge came to collapse in the Italian port city of Genoa yesterday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 16 others as it sent dozens of vehicles tumbling into a heap of concrete and twisted steel.

Abuse victims' Rome trip tops fundraisers

A bid to send Ballarat child abuse survivors to Rome to hear Cardinal George Pell give evidence on clergy sex abuse was the top Australian fundraiser on crowdfunding site GoFundMe in 2016.

The campaign, set up by KIIS FM radio host Meshel Laurie, initially aimed to raise $55,000 to send a group to Rome in February to see Cardinal Pell give evidence to Australia's royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

It ended up raising more than $203,065 over 10 months with the rest of the money going towards a healing centre for survivors.

Other top GoFundMe campaigns from 2016 include $200,000 for a safe house for young girls in Kenya who'd been sexually abused; $169,758 to help Sydney boy Ziad Soltani have surgery to remove a brain tumour; and $118,495 for a mobile shelter for Melbourne's homeless.